


bang! (now we’re even)

by rainshowers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, gamer!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 15:56:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainshowers/pseuds/rainshowers
Summary: Wherein Thor owned Steve and Steve owned Thor. Not just in the way either of them expected.





	bang! (now we’re even)

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. **Tick.**_

 

 

woe-king killed YOU by headshot with AWM

 

 

The hands of time seem to stop, then. He was on his fifth winning streak and was currently on a killing spree—just a few moments before he could secure his 35th kill to break his own record—when someone made a perfect shot at the back of his head from the hill where he just came from, killing him immediately. As if this _woe-king_ was patiently waiting for him to make a wrong move.

He could remember his initial thought ( _what the fuck, was this guy stream sniping?_ ), but he only looked at the camera, chuckled humorlessly at the disappointment he felt, and shrugged before proceeding to watch the death cam. Yes, he’s aware that this game doesn’t really require any kind of skill for one to be good at it—since the game’s all bugged and the devs don’t listen to the suggestions of its game partners anyway—and that it was wrong of him to think of _woe-king_ as a cheater, but in his defense, he didn’t know that this person was set to become one of his best buddies when it comes to video games.

And it all started because of that single second in his almost record-breaking match.

Now he could only shake his head as this dude shamelessly hogs his blanket and pillows while he’s busy streaming his ass off in the connecting room so he could pay for his electric bill.

 

 

**soccerhands  
$50.00!**  
cap when r u goin 2 duo with wking again?

 

 

He finishes off the last player hiding behind a crate and exits to the game’s lobby before reading the question and adding, “ **soccerhands** , thank you for the donation... and I don’t know. Probably when he wakes up. The guy’s knocked off his ass right now.”

“I heard that, Steven,” the man says loudly from his bedroom, clearly awake, but his muffled voice tells him that he still has his face buried in a pillow. He just smiles at his screen and mutters under his breath, “I meant for you to hear it, dumbass.”

 _Steven_ isn’t the name he usually introduces himself with. He goes with a completely different gaming ID now instead of the one he used two years before, but he has always been known as the ‘Captain’ by most of his subscribers especially during his glory days when he played competitively in a league. ‘Cap’ stuck with everyone and Steve’s okay with that, but ‘ _Steven_ ’? That name only stuck with this guy AKA the guy who’s been sleeping in his house for almost a week now.

“Does Thor ever go home, Steve, or has he already moved in with you?” Bucky asks, a hint of amusement blending his tone.

“He’s fixing his apartment.” Steve clicks on the invite button for Sam and they both wait for the other to ready up.

As all retired eSports players, with Bucky being one of his best friends from his former team and Sam being the former leader of one of their rival teams, the three of them have already made a solid squad when it comes to first-person shooter games, even getting recognized by a number of online gaming community forums as one of the hottest defensive squads that there is, especially on this game. Like a commentator from their last year’s tourney once said, the three of them have already mastered how to “live, eat, and breathe” this shit.

But for people who live a five-to-eight hour flight away, Steve, Bucky, and Sam actually hang out a lot; sometimes even sacrificing thousands of their subscribers to unsubscribe on their channel because they don’t stream for a week just to visit different places or attend conventions together.

After getting killed by Thor, though, Steve decided to add him in the squad as their fourth man for fun. It only took the two of them a day before they both learned that they live just three blocks away from each other, a knowledge that Thor has obviously already taken advantage of just seven months into their friendship.

 

 

_ user joined your channel _

 

 

“What’s up, boys?” Sam joins in. “Thor’s not joining us again today?”

“Sleeping,” Steve answers in the exact moment Thor walks in from behind, wearing an underwear over his head as a substitute for his mask, then sits on the guest chair beside Steve, motioning him to scoot his microphone closer. “I need a spare mic.”

 

 

**Prisoner3365  
$3.00!**  
why does wking always have a mask on ?? we never get to see his face. is he a snack under that underwear pls reply

 

 

“I’m a whole ass meal,” Thor quickly responds, pulling Steve’s mic to him, but quickly rearranging it back to its original position after Steve swats his hand and glares threateningly at him.

Sam laughs at the other end of the line while marking their landing spot on the map. Steve hears Bucky snort. “I don’t think he’s aware that Steve doesn’t have his mic muted.”

 

 

MATCH STARTS IN  
56

 

 

“He’s wearing a fucking underwear on his head, dude. I don’t think he’s aware of anything,” he replies, getting a laugh out of his friends.

Thor usually uses Steve’s guest computer to join their conversations instead of just sitting idly beside him, but Thor seems withdrawn recently. The man probably hasn’t touched a computer for almost a week now. Steve’s parachute goes off, startling him, and he makes a mental note to himself that he shouldn’t really care what Thor does with his time... especially now that the game has started.

They drop at about a hundred meters away from each other and Steve takes his time to loot while checking the perimeter. A Micro UZI. _Sweet_. He estimates that around two squads dropped in the same compound as them, judging by the number of parachutes a while ago, with about four people in one of the buildings next to his.

_Kill. Drink boosters. Loot. Kill. Revive. Heal. Loot._

They’re down to fifteen players, including themselves, when Steve snaps out of his trance-like gaming state, suddenly becoming aware of how cold his room is. Bucky decides, of all the time in the world, to step away from his computer after they’ve reached the play zone.

“Sam, bad guys close to us and running up the hill. Southeast, 170 to 175 from your direction. They’re getting shot by another team,” he says, equipping his Kar98k, aiming just a little higher up the head of the player who makes the mistake to stop and prone beside a rock.

“Yeah, I see them,” Sam replies.

 

 

YOU knocked down Mutate9601 by headshot with Kar98k

 

 

“Knocked one.” Steve loads and fires his sniper again, not seeing anything from the smoke someone threw.

“They’re gonna lose sound in a few seconds,” he says, pushing towards the team while uncapping a frag grenade, holding it until it’s almost ready to blow up, and throws it to the smoke before equipping the assault rifle he’s carrying. “Sound is lost.”

“I’m going to push them to the right, Steve.” Sam says, already on the move. Steve hears them exchanging fire and sees Sam’s ID in blue appear twice on the kill feed.

“All dead.”

“Nice. Six left and we have the circle,” Bucky says, making his player approach Steve and Sam’s position. “Suppressed shots from the beige house. That’s Nat and Clint, I think.”

“Careful, that sounds like an AWM,” Sam says, before getting hit by the people camping inside the house that Bucky was talking about. “Oh, so it _is_ an AWM. And it’s Nat. Again. Holy shit, they’re farming.”

Bucky laughs. “This is the third time she’s downed you, birdman. Are you safe?”

“Yeah, but I’m bleeding fast. You guys can go on without me.”

“Don’t worry, I’m gonna M24 her in the face.” Bucky takes the left side, taking out his sniper while going into the gas. Steve takes the right side and hides behind a boulder, waiting for Bucky’s signal. He looks at the numbers on his upper right-hand corner.

Two versus two.

He equips his sniper, scoping the perimeter, and tries to find a better angle when a loud shot rings in the air. Bucky snorts. “Nat’s down.”

Steve goes out of his hiding place and goes directly towards the house to throw frag grenades into the two top floor windows, killing both Natasha and Clint. He goes to their bodies and unmutes his voice chat. “Good game, you guys.”

“Tell Samuel it was fun seeing him try,” Nat answers back before saying goodbye, promising to visit him with Clint when they have the time.

 

 

**RedDagger** cheered! **x100**  
dude woe king is so silent its weird lmao

 

 

Thor already seems to catch the donation on his side monitor and shakes his head in amusement. He raises an eyebrow at him then looks at the camera, not bothering to use Steve’s microphone. “Well, he looks really attractive when he’s concentrating. So.”

Steve turns off his microphone and swivels his chair away from the camera to face Thor, “I think we both can agree that it’s not just when I’m concentrating.”

Their eyes meet between the holes of Thor’s makeshift mask, silence slicing through the air which only lasted for mere seconds. Because if Thor’s ridiculous fashion statement isn’t enough to make Steve crack up, the visible shock on his eyes sure does. Thor only shakes his head once the laughter has died down, still amused, and pats Steve’s thigh.

“You’re learning, Steven. You’re learning.”

 

 

⌖

 

 

Steve likes to think that he has a life outside the confines of this room and the games he plays. He doesn’t want to acknowledge the fact that all of his friends are gamers he met online. He goes to events, he goes to parties, he hooks up with some of the girls he meets at some bars, but none of his acquaintances really stick. Sure, there are those people whom he only talks to once in a blue moon, like Natasha and Clint, but they’re also gamers like him. He considers Peggy, his manager back when he was in the professional scene, but she was clear about severing all ties with him the moment Steve dated her niece who is only two years younger than her.

_Sharon._

Steve guesses he could still call Sharon a friend since they ended their relationship on a ‘friendly note’ even though he obviously still has feelings for her (not that there’s much he can do since it’s his fault why they called it quits in the first place). Apart from that, though, the only people he truly enjoys hanging out with are Bucky, Sam, and Thor. He tries to think of other people he considers as friends, but that’s about it.

He has a grand total of three to five real-life friends, three of whom are gamers while one’s an ex-girlfriend who he hasn’t yet moved on from.

“You want something to eat?” Thor asks loudly from the doorway, distracting him from thinking about Sharon again. Steve cranes his head back and sees the man leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed, hair still an untied mess from taking a power nap, and daring to appear on-camera without his shirt on. Steve doubts he’ll get banned by his streaming site for this, but he can’t help but wonder why on Earth is Thor spending his days with him when he can have a really good modeling career out there.

“Uh, sure,” he replies after realizing that he’s been looking at the other for too long.

Thor winks at him then closes his door. He hears his notification sound ring continuously before he remembers that Thor just appeared live for the first time without something covering his face. Steve looks at his horizontal side monitor and shakes his head at his chat which is currently spamming him with Thor emotes. “You guys are really something else.”

 

 

**cr1msondynam0  
$3.00!**  
what do you think of the update

 

 

“I personally think it’s great, man. This is what this game’s supposed to be,” he answers, following Bucky and Sam inside the building before boosting. “I just think they need to nerf down the SMGs, you know what I mean? You’ll win any game with a Vector or a UMP than with an M4. A lot of people will probably get the luckiest kills of their careers with SMGs.”

He proceeds to look at the map, sizing up the distance of the grounds they need to cover before the gas closes in on them. “Holy shit, that’s far.”

“I know. I didn’t notice until now,” Bucky says, going wide left to get a truck sitting beside the road. Steve scopes in on the terrains to their south and to their north, looking for enemies to take out, before boosting again. Of all the four maps in this game, this is Steve’s least favorite. It lacks the same action as the two. Bucky swings the car in front of them and waits for Sam to get in. “Buckle up, boys. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

“The little birds on my chat are spamming me with something,” Sam pipes up after he’s inside the truck, amusement coloring his tone. “Apparently, Thor did a strip show on Steve’s stream.”

“Oh?” Bucky asks the same time Steve says, “Jesus Christ, Sam.”

Bucky stops just a tiny bit outside of the circle, prompting the three of them to get out and check if there’s a squad camping around or coming in from the zone.

Sam laughs, following Steve’s lead. “I bet that got you an easy thousand subs, man.”

“Sam, shut up,” Steve says, running behind a tree just outside the house they were in and picks up the AR suppressor from a box on the ground before Sam does. “Zone’s closing in, you guys wanna camp this out or do you wanna hunt?”

“Hunt,” Bucky quickly responds then shoots to the rhythm of an army clap or a scout clap, Steve can’t remember which one, before heading towards their direction. “Sam’s not wrong, Steve. Thor’s got the bod for stripping.”

“Would you two just—” Steve cuts off as he spots a buggy coming in from the gas. He takes out his AKM, reloads, and tries to take out the driver, but misses almost every shot except for one. “How did I miss all those other shots, dude? _Fuck_. Come on, Steve. You bot.”

“It’s because you keep thinking about Thor, man,” Sam tells him with a chuckle. Steve huffs out a frustrated groan and sprays wildly at the buggy, blowing it up and killing the two players in the process. He equips his pistol, turns around to Sam, and shoots a single bullet to his head.

“Nice, Rogers. You messed up my helmet.”

Steve grins triumphantly but doesn’t retort, focusing instead on his chat to check if it has all cleared up. He watches as the messages continuously flow until one question from a subber named **starprince80** catches his eye: _y u still single, dad?_ followed by a stream of related questions and theories by his other subscribers. He reverts his attention back to his main monitor and sighs. He makes sure to mute his mic to read the question out loud before answering. “Too bad I’m not looking for a relationship right now so that means all your theories are wrong.”

He pushes forward into the line of buildings a hundred meters away from their position, looking for first aids or boosters, when he hears people exchanging fires. Steve glances at his map and sees that Bucky and Sam are already on the move.

“I’m gonna throw a nade,” he warns before throwing it in the top-most window of the four-story building across his location, “kaboom.”

He hears the faint footsteps once he enters, accompanied by some shuffling.

“Bogeys on me,” he says, “possibly two upstairs or a full squad.”

He hears someone firing from outside while he takes the stairs, carefully checking the railings and rooms. Steve’s sure there’s at least two players prone in one of the third-floor rooms because he doesn’t hear anyone moving.

“Downed two outside your building, Steve. There’s probably more up there,” Sam says. He looks at his map and sees that they’re all scattered. The two wouldn’t be able to revive him if he dies to these guys. Steve opens the last room to his left and takes cover before throwing a flashbang inside and waits for it to go off. He doesn’t get the chance to immediately enter the room, however, because the two players inside are already blindly firing at each other, causing one to get knocked down. He kills them both and laughs. “What the fuck were these guys doing?”

He doesn’t even notice that Thor has entered the room until he sniffs the strong savory smell of buttered chicken filling the air, causing him to take his eyes off his screen just to catch the contents of the tray that Thor’s carrying. Thor sets it on the other end of the long desk table and mouths him ‘dinner’s ready’. Steve takes off his headphones and looks at the man in confusion. “I have none of those in my kitchen.”

“Yeah.” Thor grins, looking proud of himself. “I ordered the entire thing.”

Steve laughs. “Dude, your skull must be having a hard time carrying all that IQ.”

He hears a beeping sound and sees a car in front of him.

“Hold up, I’ll just finish this game,” he tells Thor, goes in the car, and unmutes his microphone. Thor, however, stops his chair halfway and takes his headphones. “I’ll proxy for you for the meantime. Go eat, it took me minutes to reheat that, you know.”

Steve wants to protest, but he doesn’t want Thor to feel bad... plus, Thor’s got no problem manhandling him if he doesn’t comply.

“What about you?” He asks before sitting on the office chair beside Thor’s. The other gestures that he has already eaten before turning to his computer. “‘Sup, boys? You ready for some awesome in- _Thor_ -action?”

He silently watches as Thor snickers and bickers with Bucky and Sam, not entirely sure what they’re talking about. Steve’s eyes don’t leave Thor's frame. It might just be him, but Thor has this weird glowing aura that he has never noticed before. He looks happy. He looks content.

Steve inwardly scowls at himself for caring about Thor’s emotions and then curses Sam in his head for probably putting the thought in his mind. He shies away from the camera and takes the food with him, taking his time to savor the taste, when he hears Thor laugh, “Even without a hundred dollars.”

He finishes up, surprised to see his kitchen clean, and goes back to settle himself on the spare bed inside his gaming room. Steve looks up at Thor, studying the way he flicks his wrist and the small smile that his lips unconsciously make. In a stupid, delusional way, Steve thinks Thor looks like an angel... if they were blond, tall, and made of muscles, of course. There’s a lingering thought at the back of his head reminding him that he should really stop making everything weird with their friendship, but he just can’t stop _looking_.

He doesn’t know much time has passed, but Steve finds himself opening his eyes and seeing Thor’s shape, the light from the doorway hindering him from seeing the man’s face clearly. He notices the blanket over him that wasn’t there a while ago, making Steve wonder whether he’s still dreaming or not, when Thor pats his forearm and stands.

“Good night, Steven.”

 

 

⌖

 

 

Steve and Thor have this spoken, and possibly written (although they probably wrote it on a tissue and forgot it at some random bar), rule against streaming until evening during Mondays—not that Thor streams much these days anyway. They have this mutual understanding that Mondays are too important of a day in a week to be wasted by just sitting down.

Steve proposed, which was agreed upon by Thor, that they’ll have the night to themselves so that they could either drink, watch a movie, eat at an unknown restaurant downtown, or meet someone they could have a one-off with.

It’s quarter to seven when Thor finally shows up, pulling-up his vintage red muscle car on Steve’s empty driveway, revving the engine just to show off. Steve rolls his eyes and rushes to get in, he doesn’t even know how the other could’ve afforded a luxury car. “You’re late. Again.”

Thor chuckles and starts driving. “You look good, too, Steven.”

Steve makes a face, easing onto the heated seat with his arms crossed at the back of his head. Thor’s car still smells brand new as always and Steve envies how the other can be so tidy and organized. If he’s being honest, Thor is the one who really looks good between the two of them. Not just in terms of facial features, but also in terms of fashion.

The man sitting behind the wheel is wearing a navy blue-colored V-neck shirt, a bomber jacket with sewn-on patches, a pair of red pants, and a pair of cream Timberland-styled boots. Steve, on the other hand, is just wearing a maroon-colored round neck shirt, a pair of dark denim pants, and a pair of sneakers. He flicks his gaze up at Thor’s face and the other glances at him, right on time to catch him looking. He scoffs and sees Thor grinning at the road from his periphery.

“My chat loved you last night,” he says, trying to shake off his embarrassment, “you didn’t stream naked, did you?”

Thor huffs a laugh, his breath forming a fog despite the comfortable warmth of the car. Steve tries hard not to think about why Thor seems to be a lot happier these days. Thor glances over him once more, his eyes seemingly drawing Steve in. “You know my body’s only reserved for your eyes only, right?”

He stares at him, caught off guard by Thor’s question for a second, before scolding himself to act naturally. _He doesn’t want Thor to catch him staring again now, does he_? “Don’t be an idiot, Odinson.”

Thor chuckles beside him and doesn’t say anything in return so neither does Steve. It’s what he likes about being friends with Thor. They can fall into silence without it being awkward. With Sam and Bucky (even with Sharon), Steve always feels like he has to make small conversations just to avoid any stiff silence in the room.

Thor pulls up on the parking space in front of the cinema and they make their way into the long lines. They both order a box of food filled with chicken nuggets, french fries, chips, a burger, a sundae in a plastic cup, and a bottle of water from a fast food stall. They settle comfortably on their seats, munching on the large box of popcorn Steve bought before they claimed their tickets. As the lights dim and the opening sequence of the movie commences, he could hear the giggle of excitement from the people sitting behind them and Steve can’t help but grin.

After all, the movie’s another one of those superhero flicks that everyone’s been geeking on over the course of ten years now.

They exit the cinema with satisfied looks on their faces. Steve thinks it’s the best goddamn movie in the franchise, but Thor just shrugs with a grin. “It’s probably because I look like the actor playing the leading role.”

Steve playfully pushes him before entering the car. Thor starts it up, checks each side, and begins driving. They’re on the road when Thor speaks again, “I’m going to Norway next week. You behave while I’m away, okay?”

Thor glances at him as if looking for some kind of reaction and Steve tilts his head to the side. He feels like he should say something smart, like if he should ask whether Thor’s watching the world championship tournament that’s going to happen in Oslo or if he’s going on a vacation, but instead he asks him the dumbest question of all. “Oh, is there a sports thingy up there next week?”

“No,” the other replies, sighing softly with a smile, “my sister’s getting married.”

Unlike what they’re used to, the silence after what Thor has just said is deafening... and it should definitely not be deafening because he can just say something along the lines of _that’s great, congratulations!_ or _when’s the wedding?_ Unfortunately, Steve just stares at Thor like he’s an entirely different person.

He hears Thor clear his throat, pulling him back to reality.

“Uhm. Congratulations,” Steve manages, knitting his brows together before chuckling humorlessly at himself, “I didn’t know you have a sister.”

“Yeah, shocker. We also didn’t know we have one until a few years ago.”

Steve tells himself that he shouldn’t press on with the whole sister thing, he knows Thor would be uncomfortable, then he vaguely remembers that he shouldn’t really care about what Thor feels. A voice at the back of his mind keeps nudging him to say something, goading him to change the subject entirely. He listens to it.

“We’re still down for that restaurant when you come back, right?”

Steve probably won’t admit it, but the weight on his chest, that he didn’t even feel was there, suddenly lifts itself up, and he breathes out a sigh of relief when Thor looks at him and winks. “Aye, aye, Cap’n.”

 

 

⌖

 

 

On rare days, when Steve doesn’t feel any motivation to stream at all, he tries to catch up (as much as he can, anyway) with the new TV shows and movies available on streaming websites as he greedily eats a large tub of ice cream, a large bowl filled with homemade fries, a jug of water, and a couple cans of beer.

Today is a rare day.

He’s pretty sure he sent a tweet saying some bullshit excuse about why he won’t be streaming tonight, something about a fried wire or a computer malfunction, but he can’t really say he remembers. Either way, Steve knows his lie did its job. As it always does. It’s not that he doesn’t want to engage with his community once in a while, but too much streaming sometimes takes its toll on Steve’s mental and physical health. He sometimes feels empty when he talks to his camera or to his monitor screen and there’s no one there to answer him back.

He’s used to Sam and Bucky’s presence, however far they may be from him, and no amount of online presence could top that.

They’re probably already enjoying themselves on that double lunch date both of them were too excited about. _Heck_ , they’re probably already finished and Steve wouldn’t even know. He’s not great with timezones and he doesn’t want his head to hurt... especially when he’s enjoying a rare day like this. After all, he’s not really great with anything unless it’s about shooting people in video games, he thinks, and he should probably just check out that new game everyone’s been asking him to play since last week.

It dawns on him, after finishing another episode of a really good TV show adapted from a really good book about gods coming to America which he had read a few years back, how quiet his house is when he’s all alone; how it feels so foreign not to catch the huge built of a man laying on the bed, either tapping or scrolling on his phone, in a room—that he once treasured with all his heart—connecting to where his computers are all stocked up and running.

It’s kind of funny, though, how Sharon used to do that same exact thing in that same exact room every morning back when they were still living together, but she’d only stay just a few minutes after six before she showers and gets ready for work.

When they broke up, Steve had stopped loving that room. Just as Sharon had stopped loving him.

A sudden violent buzz on the couch followed by a loud, muffled yodeling ringtone interrupts his train of thought, saving him from thinking how he blew a good relationship apart. He picks up his phone from the side of the couch where he usually puts the remote and sees Thor’s unmistakably goofy look glaring on his phone screen.

“Why are you calling?” He asks by a way of greeting. Steve takes two fries and dips them on his tub of ice cream, settling comfortably on his almost-never-been-used couch while looking for another interesting series in the Popular section.

Thor doesn’t answer right away and Steve hears a woman’s voice in the background asking Thor if there’s anything else he needs. He finally hears the door click at the other end of the line. “Sorry, what was that?”

“Why are you calling?” Steve asks again, putting his phone between his ear and shoulder to put the tub of ice cream on his lap and the bowl of fries beside him for easier access. “I’m kind of in a middle of a game.”

He hears Thor make a noise, possibly a combination of a loud smirk and a snort. “No, you’re not. I’d get a notification if you were live and we wouldn’t be talking on the phone right now. I know how much you dislike when someone distracts you from your games, Steven. Don’t underestimate my devotion to you.”

“Stream sniper,” Steve replies, smiling unconsciously. “What’s this about?”

“I’m bored in bed, dude,” Thor says as a matter-of-fact and Steve can almost see the grin forming on Thor’s lips as he continues on with his sentence, “wanna play with me?”

He almost chokes on a fry and, _Jesus Christ_ , he says to himself, it’s really embarrassing how he’s bad at this stuff. Sometimes he envies how smooth Bucky and Sam can be, easily riding off suggestive questions thrown at them without breaking into a cold sweat. _You’re such a sweet grandpa_ , Bucky once told him on stream, _a sweet grandpa who still blushes at compliments and doesn’t know how to flirt_.

“Fuck off,” Steve bites out, hiding out his embarrassment in a cough and feeling a little bit self-conscious. Thor just chuckles, however, unaware of Steve’s almost-death experience with a french fry. He immediately jumps in on the opportunity to change the subject before Thor says anything again. “How’s the wedding?”

Thor groans. “Just finished. It’s the most boring event I’ve ever attended, man. I thought I was invited here to witness, like, a cultural thing or something like that, you know? But they only did the normal one and my sister’s dressed in a green and black fitted gown and her baldie husband’s dressed in a purple suit with a necktie decorated with gems. I’m not even sure if the guy’s Norwegian.”

“What’s the guy’s name?”

“Tens? Tenose? Something like that. All I know is that his name kinda rhymes with nose,” Thor says and it makes him chuckle a little. In the back of Steve’s mind, he could see the other wrinkling his nose in disgust at his sister’s messy fashion sense, adding to his amusement. Before he could say something back, Thor cuts in. “So. Why aren’t you streaming today?”

“I have no one to team up with,” he admits nonchalantly. There’s no use in lying. Thor can hear and see through his bullshit. He hears him let out an annoyed huff at the other end of the line. “Sorry, but am I not talking to Steven Rogers, the ex-NA Captain, part of the two-time back-to-back world champion roster, and the FPS legend himself?”

Steve simply laughs off the compliment. “You give me too much credit, bud.”

“Wait,” Thor says and Steve thinks that maybe room service is knocking, but the other just keeps going, “was that a lousy cover-up? Are you just indirectly saying that you miss me already?”

If Thor was in arms-reach, Steve would’ve punched him on the shoulder, but instead, he just shakes his head, knowing the other won’t even know he’s shaking his head. “You’re the one who called me in the first place, idiot.”

“But you do, don’t you?” Thor presses on, but Steve just smiles, carrying on with another topic: how shitty timezones are, a new game that Steve’s chat keeps spamming him to play, the new gaming phone that functions like a computer, Thor’s childhood friend who has a huge crush on Thor, the restaurant that they’re supposed to check out next week, and a dozen other things. It felt normal.

Thor bids him good night at about half past four in the afternoon in Steve’s time and Steve tells him to buy him a souvenir and Thor answers that he’d give him the whole universe if he can before saying goodnight again and the line dies.

Steve returns to his TV show and thinks about Thor’s question, tuning out Nirvana’s _Where Did You Sleep Last Night_. Sure, maybe he does miss him already. Even just a little.

 

 

⌖

 

 

“Behind us.”

One of his teammates, he’s not sure which one, grunts as they all load bolts and have their crossbows at the ready in case one of them gets spotted. Steve doesn’t know why he agreed to a crossbow-only game with Clint, Herc, and Kate (otherwise known by the community as the Arrow squad since they’re all skilled archers in real-life), but here they are, losing every game in just a matter of minutes.

For what it’s worth, Clint is probably the only one who’s farming: killing a minimum of at least six players in one game. Kate comes in close as second while Herc is just there for shits and giggles, occasionally trolling them by shooting bolts at the tires of the vehicles they’re supposed to ride. Steve, however, is convinced that he’s doomed himself to his chat which is currently spamming him of funny emotes and laughing at his disastrous gameplay. He consoles himself with the idea that it would’ve been an entirely different scenario if this was a pan-only game.

“One’s dead,” Clint relays and sure enough, his name in a blue highlight appears in the kill feed on the upper right corner of Steve’s screen. “Headshot one again. Pretty sure that’s his level three helmet teammate.”

“Holy fuck, dude.” Steve finishes the player who got knocked down by Clint, then proceeds to loot him. “How are you so good with the crossbow, Clint? I can’t even tell if I hit someone or not.”

“You just hope for the best, I guess,” Clint answers, checking one of the houses to their right for bolts.

Almost half of the server’s still alive when Steve suddenly gets shot three times by a suppressed Mini14 from his east, causing him to lose about three-fourths of his health. “I might be dead again,” he tells his teammates. The game is just flat out ridiculously difficult for him. He’s got limited bolts, he doesn’t have range, his vest is gone, and all the other players around them have automatic weapons while they have to reload again and again.

His phone rings as he gets hit again, this time by a different player. Kate moves close to him to revive him, but he moves his player away. “I have to take this call, Kate. You guys shoulder on.”

_Thor._

Steve frowns at his phone. Even if it’s already past twelve in Steve’s timezone, it’s still too early for Thor to be up. He accepts the call and puts it up to his ear, turning his chair away from the camera. “Hello?”

“Hi,” answers an unfamiliar woman’s voice. Whatever this is, it’s not enough to warrant Steve’s panic as he hears the faint clicking of bottles in the background. Thor’s probably in a restaurant enjoying his breakfast. “Is this Steve Rogers?”

“Who’s this?” He asks back.

“Sif. I’m a friend of Thor’s,” the woman tells him. It takes her another second to continue, seemingly distracted by her surroundings. “I was hoping you’d come down here? Thor’s half passed-out and he’s been asking for you.”

“I’m not—” Steve stops. There’s a familiar beat that he’s heard over a hundred times already. He checks his phone and sees that Thor isn’t calling internationally. “Are you at MJ’s?”

“Yes,” Sif replies. “Thor said we’re at your usual table... if that means anything.”

The line clicks and he stares at his phone for a moment, looking at his reflection on the screen before returning to his monitor. “Guys, I have to go. GG.”

“GG,” the three people reply in unison, continuing their game. Steve proceeds to turn off his computer, lock the house, and open his garage to get his car. His place is only a fifteen-minute drive to MJ’s, the bar where they occasionally go to either drink or watch football with the locals, but there’s a weird feeling on Steve’s stomach that something’s wrong so he drives to the bar in a record time of ten minutes.

He goes over to their usual table in a secluded corner at the back. A woman with a high ponytail greets him with an apologetic smile and an extended arm. “Hey. Big fan.”

“Me, too.” Steve replies with a small smile, taking in the hand extended to him. He’s seen her in several viral video clips before, one of which is about eliminating a whole squad by herself with only five percent health remaining. Steve’s sure only a number of people can do that and he's been looking at clips of her ever since. Three men, who he doesn’t know the names of, wave at him and he acknowledges them with a nod.

Sif motions at the body sprawled on the long couch near their usual table. “We already tried moving him, but he’s too big and he keeps muttering your name so we figured he’s asking for you to come here.”

“When did he come back from Norway?” Steve asks instead, his mind suddenly can’t register everything she just said.

She glances at him, probably confused that he’s asking. “Four hours ago. He’s been drinking since.”

Steve releases a relieved sigh, glad that there’s nothing wrong except for Thor being wasted in a bar. He asks the other three men for help to get Thor inside his car and thanks them, including Sif who insisted that the bill’s already paid and that they’re the ones who should be thanking him, before driving off.

“Your apartment or my house?” Steve asks Thor, not even bothering to check if the other’s conscious or not. Thor grumbles something that sounded a lot like the first one and turns to face the door of Steve’s car.

By the time they reach the house, Thor’s already sitting slightly straight.

“Shit,” the other mutters under his breath, opening the door of the car. “I’m really sorry for all the trouble.”

“It’s no big deal, bud. We all get hammered once in a while. I just wished you told me that you’re back, though. That hurt. I thought we were friends.” Steve puts his arm around him and guides him upstairs.

“Huh.” Thor cackles. “Friends.”

Steve settles him onto his bed. He’s never been in Thor’s apartment before, which is odd considering Thor practically lived for weeks in his house, but Steve knows what luxury is when he sees one. This apartment is definitely _that_. It’s designed like a Victorian house on the outside, but modern and hip on the inside. It feels like entering a complete parallel universe.

“I’ll probably regret this tomorrow, but I really like you, Steven.” Thor tells him earnestly, sitting in the middle of his bed while Steve’s trying to pull off a shoe.

Steve stops and looks up at Thor’s face, trying to find any sign that the other’s making fun of him, before pulling off the other shoe. “I like you, too, but let’s get you settled first, okay?”

He places a hand on Thor’s shoulder to make him lie down, but Thor stops him and crosses his legs so he looks like he’s about to meditate.

“No, I meant...” The other pauses, raking his hand through his hair as if he’s struggling to find the words to express what he wants to tell him. “I meant in a more-than-friends way.”

Steve freezes, his whole body turning into a block of ice. His heart suddenly feels like hammering inside his ribcage, begging to come out. Thor doesn’t notice any of it, though, and continues to blabber on with his hands covering his face. “Fuck, I know it’s stupid. You’re not yet over Sharon and I care too much about our friendship to say anything, but I... I can’t keep lying to myself about what I feel, Steve. I can’t keep lying to you.”

He doesn’t say anything in return. There’s a voice at the back of his head telling him to say something, _anything_ , to lift up the tension in the air, but he couldn’t. Steve’s heart’s still beating wildly when Thor looks up at him, his eyes staring intently into his. He just stands there and does nothing but stare back. After what felt like the longest minute in Steve’s life, Thor sighs. “Please stay. It’s late.”

“I can’t,” Steve whispers, not trusting his voice to go any louder. Thor looks like he’s about to reply, but Steve hurriedly turns away, heading straight to the door and into his car. He takes deep breaths, dismissing everything that happened as a hallucination. Thinking that maybe he did enter a parallel universe the moment he stepped into Thor’s apartment.

He starts the car and drives without looking back.


End file.
